NICOSIA, Oct 28 (AFP) - Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos said Thursday he is willing to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan over Turkey`s European bid on the sidelines of an EU summit in Rome.
"There is no reason why we shouldn`t talk to Mr Erdogan; the problem lies on his side," Papadopoulos told reporters in Nicosia before leaving for Rome, where he will sign the new EU constitution on Friday.
Erdogan and Papadopoulos have had brief chance meetings in the past.
Papadopoulos, also leader of the Greek Cypriot community on the divided island, said the difficulty for Erdogan is that while Ankara does not recognise the Cyprus Republic Turkey`s EU accession bid had changed the climate.
"Now Turkey expects a date for when accession talks can begin, the obstacle posed to Mr Erdogan that any such meeting could be tantamount to recognition of the Cyprus Republic has less significance than it did before," he said.
Papadopoulos said EU summits offer ample opportunity for quiet diplomacy and differences to be resolved.
"At such meetings the most significant contacts happen on the sidelines, and I`m sure they will this time."
The internationally recognized Cypriot government argues that Turkey needs to restore full diplomatic and bilateral relations with it if Ankara is to achieve EU membership.
Papadopoulos has said his government would not stand in the way of Turkey securing an EU accession date in December if Turkey officially recognised Cyprus, as it does the other 24 EU states. He has also not ruled out using the veto against Turkey.
Cyprus would also like to link the question of an accession date with a withdrawal of 35,000 Turkish troops on the island, where they are technically occupiers on EU soil.
Publicly, Erdogan has dismissed the issue of recognition and of troop withdrawals.
Turkey has occupied the island`s nothern third since 1974 when it invaded in response to an Athens-engineered coup seeking to join Cyprus with Greece.
In an April referendum, Greek Cypriots rejected a UN reunification plan, while Turkish Cypriots approved it. As a result a divided island joined the European Union in May, with the Turkish Cypriots left out in the cold.
10/28/2004 15:36 GMT - AFP